Every chassis has their own inherent problems. With Subaru’s you’ll always hear people talk about the head gaskets and blowing your engine that way. With the E9X, the inherent problems are rod bearings, throttle actuator, leaky valve covers, and a plastic VANOS cover.
The forums will tell you all about these issues and some may believe it and some will not. I didn’t want to take the chance and in the first week of ownership, I went and got the rod bearings done by Malek at MRF Engineering. With that out of the way, I’ve spent the next year and a half collecting parts for this engine overhaul and I finally decided to bite the bullet and get all of the parts installed!
First up was the Carbahn VANOS spring plate kit (CBS65-6003). I didn’t want to go with the clip on kits like SLON and wanted a more permanent fix. With this spring plate kit, we had to have the engine retimed as the bolts had to be removed to install the washers. I’ve added part numbers below for what needs to be bought and replaced when going this route. The reason to replace the cap was because the plastic cap that holds the springs together eventually deteriorates and falls apart inside the engine and your engine goes bye-bye!
CARBAHN VANOS COVER CBS65-6003
QTY 4 11367840998 CENTRAL BOLT
QTY 4 11367839292 VANOS O RING
QTY 2 11317507432 CRUSH WASHERS
QTY 2 11127838162 ACCESS COVER GASKET
Next on the list was the Euro Power Motorsport throttle actuators. They send you their upgraded internals in the TA and you send them back your worn out TA for a core refund. Considering they are one of the few in the USA to do this service, it’s a good product but the service and communication with the company needs major improvements. Lots of emails and messages go unanswered while I patiently waited for them to ship the TA out to me.
Next item was to install the NRW aluminum valve cover. The OEM one is made out of magnesium and eventually flakes and leaks all over the place. NRW developed a 1:1 valve cover made in aluminum to fix the issues. I chose the stock grey color to keep things looking as OEM as possible. Other things not shown that was installed in the engine bay was new OEM injectors, idle control valves, NRW spark plug tubes, and NRW silicone throttle body couplers.
Next up was the real reason why I finally fixed the M3 after all these months of collecting parts. Got rid of the Mickey Mouse xpipe that was on the car. Previous owner chopped the secondary cats off and I had the dealership that I bought it from weld in a replacement set. Found out that previous owner also did the muffler mod where you cut it up and weld in straight pipe inside the muffler. The drone was absolutely brutal for me and I couldn’t stand it. Had the shop swap out for a low mileage xpipe, got all new O2 sensors, and mated it up with a Dinan muffler! It looks and sounds amazing!
So far I’m pretty happy with how the build is going for the E90! Finally got the engine work done and the first thing I did was send it to the moon in Mexico! 🤙🏼. Next up on the list is to get the paint correction done, buy some suspension, and throw the TE37 wheels on! Stay tuned!
OEM PLUS COLLECTIVE 
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